3. Hapaline brownii Hook.f.

Fl. Brit. India 6: 521 (1893) & in Bot. Mag. 119, t.7325 (1893) (ëbrownei‰'); Ridley, Mat. fl. Malay. Penins. 3: 15 (1907) & Fl. Malay. Penins. 5: 96 (1925). Type: Malay Peninsula, Kedah, Kunstler (Dr King's collecter) 1830 (holotype K!; isotype BM!).

Small, tuberous, deciduous perennial herb up to 32 cm high. Stem: tuber globose, 7 - 17 x 7 - 13 mm; stolon terete, 1 - 4 cm x 2 - 4 mm, enclosed by several papery cataphylls. Roots c. 0.2 mm in diam. Leaf: prophyll linear-triangular, up to 9 cm x 5 mm, acute to apiculate; cataphyll linear-triangular, up to 12 cm x 9 mm, attenuate to rather blunt; petiole 8 - 19 cm x 0.5 - 1.5 mm; leaf blade cordiform, 5.5 - 16 x 2.7 - 10.5 cm, thinly coriaceous, dark green, rarely with pale green blotches, margins smooth, apex acuminate, posterior lobes rounded, ± parallel to slightly overlapping. Inflorescence: several together, emerging before, with or after the leaves, peduncle 12 - 25 cm x 0.5 - 2 mm; spathe 5 - 9 cm long; spathe limb elliptic to linear-elliptic to linear, 3 - 7 cm x 10 - 17 mm, apex acute, base decurrent into lower spathe; lower spathe clasping, 2 - 3 cm x 2 mm; spadix 5 - 8 cm x 3 - 7 mm, free portion cylindric to narrowly conic, 3 - 6 cm, tapering to somewhat blunt apically in a short appendix composed of fused synandrodes. Flowers: synandria angular-elliptic in plan view, 2 - 7 x 0.75 - 1.5 mm; ovaries ellipsoid, 2 - 2.5 x 0.5 - 1 mm, 2 - 4 in a single row; stigma slightly prominent, c. 0.2 mm in diam; style absent. Infructescence: partially enclosed by the persistent lower spathe, few-berried; berries ellipsoid to almost globose, c. 3 mm in diam., stigmatic remains persistent, slightly prominent. (Fig. 3.).

DISTRIBUTION. Malay Peninsula, Thailand. MALAYSIA (PENINSULA). Kedah: Pulau Langkwai, N side of Kisap, 30 Apr. 1962, Burtt & Woods 1771 (E!, K spirit 56419!); Pulau Langkwai, Luntau (Terautau?), March 1892, Curtis 2819 (BM!, K!, SING!); Pulau Langkwai, Hay 2036 (K spirit 46306!); Kedah, no locality, May 1881, Kunstler (Dr King's collector) 1830 (holotype K!; isotype BM!); Gunung Keriang, 1910, Ridley 14784 (SING!); Gunung Geriang, Feb. ?1910, Ridley 14764 (BM!, K!); Kelantan: Gua Panjang at Gua Minik, 21 Oct. 1927, Henderson (SING!); Batu Bow, Sungai Keteh, 10 Feb. 1924, Nur & Foxworthy s.n. (SING!); Gua Musang, 1 May 1976, Stone & Sidek 12604 (KLU!, L!); ? Penang: cult. Kew, May 1893, Curtis s.n., ëtype‰ of Bot. Mag. t.7325 (K!, SING!). THAILAND. Phuket: Tan Sang, 28 May 1919, Haniff & Nur 4282 (K!, SING!).

HABITAT. Disturbed mixed dipterocarp forest on river banks, on limestone, often in cracks in limestone; 20-150 m. One of the collections cited above (Burtt & Woods 1771) is in cultivation at Edinburgh and is vigorous, with a robust spadix, large (c. 6 x 1 mm) synandria, a large spathe limb and leaves blotched pale green.